The Evolution Of The Immune System

The Evolution of the Immune System: Conservation and Diversification is the first book of its kind that prompts a new perspective when describing and considering the evolution of the immune system. Its unique approach summarizes, updates, and provides new insights on the different immune receptors, soluble factors, and immune cell effectors. Helps the reader gain a modern idea of the evolution of the immune systems in pluricellular organisms Provides a complete overview of the most studied and hot topics in comparative and evolutionary immunology Reflects the organisation of the immune system (cell-based, humoral [innate], humoral [adaptive]) without introducing further and misleading levels of organization Brings concepts and ideas on the evolution of the immune system to a wide readership

Immunology is a nodal subject that links many areas of biology. It permeates the biosciences, and also plays crucial roles in diagnosis and therapy in areas of clinical medicine ranging from the control of infectious and autoimmune diseases to tumour therapy. Monoclonal antibodies and small molecule modulators of immunity are major factors in the pharmaceutical industry and now constitute a multi billion dollar business. Students in these diverse areas are frequently daunted by the complexity of immunology and the astonishing array of unusual mechanisms that go to make it up. Starting from Dobzhansky’s famous slogan, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”, this book will serve to illuminate how evolutionary forces shaped immunity and thus provide an explanation for how many of its counter intuitive oddities arose. By doing so it will provide a conceptual framework on which students may organise the rapidly growing flood of immunological knowledge.

The comparative approach to immunology can be traced to the era of Pasteur and Metchnikov in which observations regarding foreign recognition in invertebrates was a factor in the develop ment of the principal concepts that created the foundation of what now is the broad field of immunology. With each major experimental and conceptual breakthrough, the classical, albeit essential, question has been asked "are the immune systems of phylogenetically primitive vertebrates and invertebrates similar to that of mammals?" Somewhat surprisingly for the jawed verte brates, the general answer has been a qualified form of "yes", whereas for agnathans and invertebrate phyla it has been "no" so far. The apparent abruptness in the appearance of the immune system of vertebrates is linked to the introduction of the somatic generation of the diversity of its antigen specific receptors. Therefore the questions regarding the origin and evolution of the specific immune system revolve around this phenomenon. With respect to the origin of the system (aside from the or igin of the rearranging machinery itself, the study of which is still in its infancy) one can ask questions about the cellular and mo lecular contexts in which the mechanism was introduced.

Amphioxus Immunity: Tracing the Origin of Human Immunity covers a remarkable range of information about Amphioxus and its evolutionary context. This compilation of what is currently known about Amphioxus, with a sharp focus on its immune system, includes 13 topics, such as: Amphioxus as a model for understanding the evolution of vertebrates basic knowledge of immunology immune organs and cells of amphioxus a genomic and transcriptomic view of the Amphioxus immunity pattern recognition system in Amphioxus transcription factors in Amphioxus the complement system of Amphioxus the oxidative burst system in Amphioxus immune effectors in Amphioxus lipid signaling of immune response in Amphioxus apoptosis in amphioxus; primitive adaptive immune system of Amphioxus and future research directions This valuable reference book is loaded with information that will be useful for anyone who wishes to learn more about the origin of vertebrates and adaptive immunity. Provides new evidence on the origin of the adaptive immune system, the evolution of innate immunity, and evolution-stage specific immune defense mechanisms Not only presents the cells and molecules involved in the adaptive immune response in Amphioxus, but also characterizes the origination and evolution of the gene families and pathways involved in innate immunity Includes much pioneering work, from the molecular, genomic, and cellular to the individual level

The Janeway's Immunobiology CD-ROM, Immunobiology Interactive, is included with each book, and can be purchased separately. It contains animations and videos with voiceover narration, as well as the figures from the text for presentation purposes.

Machine generated contents note: -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: A History of the Immune Self -- Chapter 2: Whither Immune Identity? -- Chapter 3: Individuality Revised -- Chapter 4: Immune Cognition -- Chapter 5: Eco-immunology -- Chapter 6: A New Biology? -- Epilogue -- Endnotes -- References. 650

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